L.A. is.

To me ((I reserve the right to add many more memories to this post in the future.)):

• James Ellroy
• The Black Dahlia
• Militant Angeleno’s ramblings get at the wild enthusiasm many have for L.A. ((See Militant Angeleno))
• No traffic on the 110 at 3 in the morning blasting the radio
• 5 years old and going to Phillippe’s while my Dad was on a break from working as a Nurse at L.A. County
• Flying a kite on the beach in Santa Monica
• Driving up the coast for lunch at Neptune’s Net
• Having lunch along the fountain in front of the downtown public library
• Greenpeace climbing up the ARCO building while I was contracting at ARCO
• Scoping out the Art Center Gallery with my pal when I was 16 years old
• The Pantry
• Coffee bean muffin from The Pantry that made me so so wired
• The L.A. Auto show with my pal Chris
• World Book & News on Cahuenga and buying the L.A. Times, New York Times, Film Comment, Cinefex, Spy Magazine, and Serif after a night shift
• Hearing nurses tell their stories of the riots
• Dave Segovia talking about the aftermath of the Northridge Quake — rolling around in office chairs on the 4th floor getting ready for the day shift
• Little Tokyo AAA guy kidding with stupid teenage me that he would have to break my window to get my car open and keys out. Then him swiping that slim jim so easy it was spooky.
• Macromedia Flash launch party that was like a big party scene from Swingers
• Golden Apple Comics
• Seeing a midnight show of the Stallone version of Judge Dredd at the Rialto in Alhambra
• Playing Red Planet at Virtual World in Pasadena
• Web405 & Goodtimes mailing lists
• Film crews every which place all around at any hour
• I saw Puck ((Puck of The Real World)) at Pink’s
• Star sightings too numerous to mention
• Getting groceries at 2am
• “You’ve Got Bad Taste” store by Exene in Silverlake
• Taking the Train up and Greyhound Bus back from San Diego to see Stew in The Cover Problem ((These Changes, 2003))
• C’mon, the city can be just beautiful: Downtown L.A. as seen from Griffith Park (2003)
• Getting lost at Cinco de Mayo celebrations downtown when I was way too young to be los in Downtown Los Angeles
• My dad getting all nostalgic for Tacos at El Tepeyac in the 90s, remembering tacos he had there in the 70s
• Seeing my dad graduate as a Physician Assistant from USC
• Philip K. Dick. Blade Runner. LA15. Snow Crash. “That gibberish he talked was city speak, gutter talk. A mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German, what have you. I didn’t really need a translator, I knew the lingo, every good cop did. But I wasn’t going to make it easier for him.”
• Los Lobos. Always.
• “Drive west on Sunset, to the sea…”
• SIGGRAPH blew my mind in 1995
• Opamp Books. Tower on Sunset. Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica. Hennessey+Ingalls. The Last Bookstore. Golden Apple Comics. I still haven’t been to Meltdown Comics or Nerdmelt. ((But I will.))
• Tools of the Trade Show in Pasadena where I got Syd Mead’s autograph
• Wasteland by Warrior Soul & How To Survive in South Central by Ice Cube & Screenwriter’s Blues by Soul Coughing
• Little old lady protesters in Alhambra with picket signs in front of an adult theater when I was a kid
• Home movies of Rose Bowl Parades I went to and don’t remember when I was 3 and 4 years old
• Digital Coast Magazine events in the 1990s hosted Jason Calacanis
• Going to Canter’s on New Year’s Day after a night shift and getting a cheesecake to celebrate with
• I never fell in love with anyone from Los Angeles, but I did fall in love with the city